eBay has recently done something with their app. I had been using it on my Motorola installed from Aurora store but recently it would no longer work it insisted on installing from Play. I had to reenable Play services and try and found out now Play just says my phone isn’t a compatible device. Which is absurd.

Someone made a bad decision and their app has gotten really fucked. I just use the webapp instead now. On that device, anyhow.

Wow. Ok so regarding Feist I was only ever able to get through Magician Apprentice and Master. Reading issues, not important. But I didn’t know he was really not involved. Did be base Serpent War or Rift War saga on the game? Don’t remember what was what this many years later.

I have been thinking of getting my ass in gear and setting up a retro system. I have several units just waiting to be configured it’s just other stuff always taking priority.

So would a Pentium machine let’s say either with DOS/3.11 be good or maybe Win 95. I think maybe I’ll setup one of each since I have a few units available. This way I can play some things that need one and other stuff that is better with the other. I recall Crusader: No Remorse, and Crusader: No Regret won’t run on '95 but it will reboot into DOS mode for it lol. There are quite a few other games I’m eager to play again.

Oddly I’ve found that some stuff is ok under emulation but for whatever reasons - speculatively I’d say access to hardware via real-mode drivers that the abstraction layer in NT and forward prohibits - even the best systems like VMWare and VirtualBox seem to not handle more sophisticated game engines, only the simpler stuff. I imagine maybe it can be made to work better with tweaking and supplementary tools but after all the work that requires to get it to cooperate I think just having a real system with older hardware is probably just easier and more reliable.

I want to play the graphical Zork games again, Return to Zork, Zork: Nemesis and Zork: Grand Inquisitor. Those were so much fun. Nemesis was a huge departure from the Zorkverse it was probably a shelved project in need of an easily marketable title? I dunno but Activision et al did an awesome job with it. I tried it not long ago on my Linux laptop and even with tools like PlayOnLinux/WINE, the animation was far too fast and rendered it not controllable.

There’s so much more stuff I would love to dive into again. Lands of Lore, some more of the Sierra titles like King’s Quest, Space Quest, Gabriel Knight, just all their stuff. Between Sierra, Apogee, Activision, Interplay and a few others, the landscape of 1990s gaming is an absolute treasure!

Wow I have really rambled! If you made it all the way here thanks for patiently reading my verbosity.

Yeeeeah! I haven’t played these in forever but Hero’s Quest was my first Sierra adventure and holy shit was it magic. And Krondor - Raymond freakin Feist writing games!!

Both absolutely epic! Although in my case we’d be playing fast and loose with the term “youth” this was stuff I played after college but still.

Well I was not really addressing the specific item that spawned this discussion thread, only the notion that was stated that one should only ever use the official stores.

Well I know there’s this app called Plexus or Plexor something and that supposedly helps you get an app past that requirement. I used it once to success long time ago by choosing a setting for the app and then it suddenly did not demand to get from the Play Store, so I know it works - in theory. But since that one success a few months ago, I haven’t gotten it to work again. I suspect maybe that phone at the time was completely de-googled or was a ROM such as CyanogenMod, and maybe the app can bypass if it doesn’t see the Google services at all.

Anyway, I will further investigate. I have some ROMed phones I can try on. If you want, I’ll post update in case you’re interested.

Thanks again for reply. Even if you didn’t have info for it I appreciate the courtesy.

Yes because it’s that simple. Every file online that’s not from some huge corporation is spyware. /s

Some people are strange - we know what we’re doing, we know a site and whether they have a solid reputation, we have experience and can determine when we’re getting a safe file. Oh, and do you truly believe that the “official” sources don’t dole out spyware left & right? Don’t be this naive; It’s not as simple as you stated. That’s just the general carte blanche rule that experts tell ordinary users because if we didn’t, they would download crap from everywhere under the sun and load up on malware every day.

Ok so I have a question: I have a few apps that I have the apk but when I run them, or even if I install from Aurora Shop, when I run them they say I need to install it from Play. Then they exit.

How do I work around this? I have been told it can be circumvented but I haven’t got a handle on how.

Thanks if you can advise.

I had the first NES system with the original inclusion of Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt. Actually it was the first console of the line but I don’t think the very first version because I think the very first version did not have Duck Hunt or the gun. Correct me if I’m mistaken. I was a little late to the NES and by then I think they added that element to it.

But also, I didn’t buy any console after that, because once I started gaming on PC I only ever gamed on PC. Although I regret not getting into Turbo Grafx 16 because years later I found troves of the games at a flea market and the guy dug up all of the ones he had and brought them over the following few weeks. By that time I was no longer really interested in them so I was just buying and reselling them on eBay. Massive score on that load. But I wish I had just collected the whole set and gotten a unit.

Why did I start rambling? Oh yeah cuz it’s Reddit. Anyway, consoles were a nice idea but to me, once I could upgrade a graphics card and always still be able to not only play the games that I had already, but continue to be able to get newer ones… I dunno, the console concept seemed to me a money pit, because first of all, the moment it hit the shelves in stores, there were already better graphics chips being sold for PC, and also, eventually as I had predicted, it would become a console war, combined with cutting off older units whenever they pleased, as well as all the rest of the shit they’ve pulled over the years with DRM, and online requirement so they could fucking cut you off when they pleased. I opted to not even bother stepping into that racket. PC gaming for me. Especially retro PC gaming.

Ok ramble over. Just wanted to share my experiences.

Hey, do you have any kind of link to somewhere I can find that illustrates thus process? I don’t doubt I could wing it if needed but I often run into one stumbling block after another to eventually succeed. If you don’t know of any guide that’s OK. Thanks for the reply, it is appreciated.

I’m getting some Golden Axe & Altered Beast vibes.

Yeah I don’t have any intention or need to keep a locked bootloader.

Yes, I thought this a bit ridiculous I’ve put a variety of ROMs on dozens of different models. There’s no self-destruct booby trap st the hardware level. Many are difficult some are impossible to flash, but nothing will break itself. That would be a suicidal business decision.

Thank you! I’ll see what’s available on XDA and def. will check the link you posted. Motorola is great with unlocking bootloader. Aside from one or two models that were prepay and not eligible for unlock they’ve provided the codes for all units I’ve tried so far. Should be OK.

Interesting? OK well you’re a stranger on the internet but somehow you think you’ve stumbled upon a Sherlock Holmes moment. But I’ll indulge you. The older Adobe PS Touch that they discontinued basically because it was perfect and they wanted to start peddling subscriptions. It’s a fantastic app. On iOS its gone for good but I have an old iPad 2 with it still installed. I have a Galaxy Note 10+/5G with Android 12 and PS Touch runs beautifully. From my research it seems that Android 14 is where it became impossible to install. Therefore I’d prefer to revert one version.

Also none of these devices are my primary device, none are my actual phone. They’re various pocket computers for various uses. So the Moto I’d really like to have PS Touch working. So I have no security worries.

I buy, refurbish and sell these kinds of phones and the first thing I usually do after testing all the hardware is remove accounts and wipe/factory reset. I’ve had hundreds of unsecured devices in my possession but I have no interest in invading the private lives of strangers nor of accessing their personal data. I respect people.

So, nothing nefarious just boring old typical real life situation.

I feel like the consumers who get these devices are definitely tolerating a lot of compromise just to have the toy. It’s vulnerable to so much going bad and even when it’s perfect and factory new, many of the ones I’ve seen are not quite flat and you can definitely see the crease very noticeable.

So I suppose sufficient consumers were willing to accept a device that is not quite there yet, as a way to finance the manufacturers’ further refinement of the feature. Personally I would not. If I ever get a folding one it’s going to be when it’s perfected and the fold is seamless and undetectable.

My sentiments exactly. Anyone worried about this can suck it, our society is crumbling.

Ah. Makes sense.

Yeah but it’s a hardware keyboard, not a screen-keyboard. I am not saying that means it won’t work - I definitely don’t know - but it’s conspicuous they focused on it briefly. SHRUG lol I’m sure there will be a hack for it if it doesn’t already behave how people want.

Yup. Definitely an awful design choice.

I wish they could be like overclocked to make the most of one if you’re stuck with a mediatek chip device. I got a new Galaxy Tab A7 Lite several months back and yeah it was very cheap but its SOOO sluggish! Lag lag lag for almost every single thing! I’m considering selling it off unless I can manage to find a GSI build because all of the few ROMs that were posted for it are not online anymore. If I can manage to find anything it could be made to perform quite well, but as it is with Samsung’s awful One-UI it can literally sometimes not handle entering the settings app!